2023-04-19 19:00:07
Each Wednesday, The World Africa presents three new musical releases from or inspired by the continent. This week, head to Cameroon with new releases from Sandra Nkaké, Blick Bassy and Cindy Pooch.
“Sisters”, by Sandra Nkake
“Singing saved me, these scars are now my strength. » This is how Sandra Nkaké presents her fourth album, Scars, Released Friday, April 14. “It’s a love record”, continues the singer, born in 1973 in Yaoundé and living in France since the age of 11. Produced with his long-time accomplice, flautist and composer Jî Drû, this opus which navigates smoothly between soul, jazz, folk and rock, carried by a voice alternately soft or powerful, also speaks of exile, “moments of Africa”, of “the violence of being a woman, black, a musician”, of sharing and sisterhood, as in the piece Sisters.
“Hola Mè”, by Blick Bassy
With Madiba, his new album scheduled for the end of May, one would have thought that Blick Bassy, whose previous album, 1958, was devoted to the independence activist Ruben Um Nyobè, this time was going to pay tribute to Nelson Mandela. It is not so : « madiba » means “water” in the Douala language and it is no coincidence that the first single, Hello Me, was released on March 22 for World Water Day. In fact, the singer and composer born in 1974 in Mintaba, in the south-west of Cameroon, explores with his aerial voice different themes related to this vital resource, from its rarity to its necessity through its energy.
« Issemou », the Cindy Pooch
After water, light: «issemou», in Banen language. This is the title given by Cindy Pooch to her first EP, released on April 7. Born in France and having grown up in Cameroon, the singer and composer lent her voice to several groups in Lyon, her adopted city (including The Bongo Hop and Ti’kaniki), before embarking on a solo in a less rhythmic register. and more lyrical. « Issemou was born from the darkness, one evening of wandering the streets of Yaoundé, while the city was plunged into darkness following an electrical load shedding”, explains the artist. The music video for the eponymous track was shot in Kampala, Uganda.
Find all the editorial staff’s musical favorites in the YouTube playlist of the World Africa.
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